The Doctor, in the TARDIS, with Rose Tyler: Just as it Should Be
by WholockedAnglophile
Summary: It's been seven months since Rose last saw the Doctor on Bad Wolf Bay, and she's trying to move on, but she's finding it impossible. Then, she hears the unmistakeable, high-pitched hum of the TARDIS materialising behind her. Ten/Rose Reunion FanFic Rated T on the safe side, but I don't think I'll write anything more thematic than K . This is my first fanfic, so.. Yay, me!
1. Never Going Back

It's just an ordinary day. Seven months, two weeks, and five days have passed since I saw him for the very last time on Bad Wolf Bay and confessed my love for him, him vanishing before being able to return the gesture.  
I'm out with Mum. We're on a long, slow walk around the area where I live now, sometimes stopping outside shop displays for a short amount of time before once again laying a steady beat on the grey pavement, our paces matching perfectly. That's the only sound out here. My family is one of the very few who aren't afraid of being anywhere near London during the Christmas season. I don't mind. I like the silence; it gives me an excuse to lose myself in my mind, which is filled with wonderful things, and terrible things, and the best thing of all: my Doctor.

I could sit in the same place for hours at a time, replaying _our_ story over and over in my head. And I have before. I hate it when I'm shaken out of the trance, which is a drug itself to me. Mickey usually interrupts me before anyone else dares; he has always worried about me too much. I think Mum feels sorry for me, and she lets me be, for which I am grateful. Pete, well, Pete's still getting used to me. He's never been a father before, and he doesn't know what to think or do, so he avoids me in my hours of oblivion.

So this is Mum's way of 'helping' me: dragging me out here into the cold, her only excuse being that she, pregnant, must exercise, and I can keep her company. I know she's just trying to help me, but I don't think she understands that in times like this, I just want to be left alone.

I know someday I'll have to move on, but I can't imagine going back to a 'normal' life. After everything I've seen and done and loved, I don't think I could. The Doctor showed me a better way of living your life, and now he's gone. He changed me, so much, I doubt even Shareen would recognize me. If I could ever see her again.  
Instead of letting me continue to think, Mum just has to break the silence.

"Rose?" Her voice is filled with anxiety. I sigh. I will have to answer this time, instead of ignoring her voice and continuing to explore my mind, as I usually do.

"Yes, mum?" I don't have imagine the relief flooding through her body. It's plain as day on her delicate features as she hears the quite rare sound of my tired voice.

"How are you?" My mother asks. I don't feel like talking, so I give the first apathetic answer that comes to mind.

"Uh.. I'm fine."

"No, but really, how _are_ you?" She stops walking and turns towards me, picking up my hands and cupping them in hers, her eyes boring into mine and searching for the truth. Staring back into hers, I understand that the simple 'how are you?' means so much more. My mother, who fears for my wellbeing, wants to know how I'm feeling, how I'm doing, how I'm coping with this universe. Looking directly at her, and feeling like a small child in her mother's arms, I blurt out without thinking, "I'm not good at all, Mum." My eyes threaten to well up with tears, but I know there are no more left to cry.

Mum's small hands let go of mine and reach up to stroke my hair. She smoothes out my blonde waves and straightens my jacket, which is about to slip down my shoulders. After adjusting my features, she takes my hands in hers once more. She squeezes them gently

"Rose," she begins, tears pricking the corners of her eyes, "I know how it feels to lose someone you love. And I know I can't help you stop grieving. I know there's no point in trying to snap you out of it. So, I just want you to know that I'm right here for you, whenever you need somebody to talk to."

"Mum, can we- can we talk now? Maybe this is what I need; to talk to someone. To have them just listen to my story, and nothing else. Just... listen."

"Of course, love." We walk over to one of the tables in the front of a restaurant and sit down. My mum makes herself comfortable- as comfortable as you can get on a metal booth, and I scoot around so I'm across from her.

"Okay. I'm listening," she says softly. I look around. We're the only ones on the street. _I could scream if I wanted to,_ I realise. But that would be stupid. I sigh, attempting, with no success, to gather my thoughts.

"Mum, I don't even know where to start." So many emotions are flying around my head, I have trouble thinking.

"Why don't you tell me about him? I never knew him very well, and maybe I misjudged him. What was he like when I didn't see him, whenever you two were traveling, having adventures?"

"Oh, Mum, he's wonderful!" I exclaim, remembering my Doctor's taudry quirks. "Honestly, I think you brought out the worst in him." I laugh, and Mum smiles softly. "Like, he has these glasses - he calls them his 'brainy specs' - he uses when he's examining something in front of people, but secretly, he only wears them because he thinks they make him look clever. And when he gets really excited about something, his voice gets higher, and he'll smile with his mouth open and giggle. And, oh, he can dance!" I exclaim. "Gosh, he can dancea like a professional- which I'm sure he was, at one point... The TARDIS would design a different room for us every time we ate a meal. Sometimes she would put us in a ballroom and play music, and he'd spin me around the floor like I weighed nothing.

"And the way he used to look at me when we were alone, like I was the most important thing in the universe to him. In all the universes," I add. Remembering my Doctor makes me feel better, and for a moment I imagine I can hear the high-pitched hum of the TARDIS.

And then I realise it's not my imagination.


	2. Reunion at Last

I let go of the controls and hang on to the handles attached to the console's screen as my ship shakes worse than usual. The normally high-pitched whir of the TARDIS has been replaced with a rattling moan as she travels toward our next destination. It took a while to figure out how to fit her into the bulogenic wormhole, which is a sort of void-free window between universes. I had to change the frequency of the meta-critical extrapolator and reboot the electromagnetic repolsivation generator. I push a button and pull a few levers and the TARDIS stops. She creaks ominously, and I know she'll have to rest before we take off again. It's hard to believe I found a way to travel to Pete's world without tearing the universe apart. Which I would've; I would do anything for her. I need her. She is the only thing that keeps me sane, and I can't live without her. She can't live without me, either. I've never told her, but I've been inside her head. I heard screaming coming from her bedroom in the TARDIS one night, several months ago. I went in there to see what was wrong, and she was thrashing under her blanket and sobbing like happiness had ceased to exist. I had been sure she was having a bad dream. I'd shaken her, but I couldn't wake her, so, sitting on her bed, I entered her mind, soothing it until her shaking finally ceased. What I saw inside her head, though- She wasn't dreaming a normal bad dream about something like becoming a Cyberman, or even being surrounded by a hundred Daleks. Rose was dreaming she lost me. That's the first time I realised she loved me. And it tore me apart, even more than knowing THAT, when her nightmares became reality. The question now is whether or not my calculations are correct. *Have I really found a way back to her?* I wonder. I look at the readings on the screen. Yep. Definitely an alternate universe. *But is it the right one?* Well, there's only one way to find out. I walk down the steps to the door, my pace slowing as I reach it. I stop a few feet away. Running my hands up my face and through my hair, I think carefully about what I'm about to do. For one, I know I'm in London, in the year 2007. The TARDIS tells me that. But I don't have the faintest idea where she is. What if she's moved on already? What if I'm too late to rescue her? What if she hates me for leaving her? *She gave up everything she had for you,* says a little voice in the back of my head. *You won't lose her that easily, Doctor.* "Hmm." I smile just a little, but it falters as my thoughts quickly shift to what I am about to face. Even if she HAS moved on, I need to let her know something I didn't get to on Bad Wolf Bay. And even if she doesn't accept it, I'll be able to move on without a guilty conscience, because I'll know that, eventually, she heard the words from ME, and I got to tell her. That's what finally broke me seven months ago, I think. I had so many opportunities to tell her, and I threw them away, because I was too busy, or too scared, or too vain to tell her how I feel. The what-ifs threaten to enter my mind, but I suppress them once more. It's a long time before I gather up the courage to go outside. I take the remaining step toward the door. Slowly, my hand reaches for the doorknob and I turn it even slower. The door swings open on its own, and standing in front of me is Rose Tyler. My hearts leap as soon as I see her, but I force myself not to close the distance between us and press my lips against hers. Our eyes lock immediately. Both of us are completely silent. I don't dare make a sound, waiting for her judgement. And then she smiles the tongue-in-cheek grin she's always reserved just for me. I smile, mouth wide open, and laugh, relieved. Rose laughs with me, tears starting in the corners of her eyes. I step forward and pull her into an embrace, hugging her hard, my arms under hers and my hands against her upper back. I forgot just how perfectly we fit together, like pieces to a puzzle; how right it feels to have her body pressed against mine like this. Beginning to cry, I breathe in her familiar scent: lavender, and something hypnotic to me that can only be described as Rose Tyler. I finally have her back in my arms, and she belongs to me, and no one else. "Rose. My Rose," I whisper in her ear as I bury my face in her neck, tears spilling over. "My Doctor," I hear. After a long time- but still, not long enough- I unwrap my arms from her body and place my hands on the sides of her head, my thumbs rubbing back and forth across her temple, and my eyes never leaving hers. I press her forehead against my chest and she hugs me tightly; I venture so far as to kiss the top of her head gently, and then quickly bury my nose in her soft, blonde hair once more. "Rose?" I hear a familiar voice coming from the outside of the TARDIS, and I notice that the doors have been shut by the wind. The voice belongs to Rose's mother, Jackie. "Rose, honey?" She knocks on the TARDIS door. "Are you in there?" She swings it open now, and jumps when she sees me. "Doctor." "Jackie." Rose steps away from me and toward her mum, but her hand still clings to mine. Jackie and I stand just inside the TARDIS, both of us contemplating what she'll do next. She rushes forward and embraces me, squeezing me so hard I can't breathe. "Oh, I'm so glad you're here. You can help her. I've been so worried about her, all she does is sit around and mope-" "Mum!" "-And she doesn't get up to do hardly anything, ever since you abandoned her and left her here, and- and- You abandoned her!" Jackie tears herself from my arms, and the slap I've been bracing myself for finally comes. My head swings to the right as the impact makes me stumble. I let go of Rose's hand and catch myself on the rail. Once I regain my balance, I touch my cheek tenderly and wince as the room spins. "Where the HELL have you been?" Still recovering from the slap I'm sure will leave a bruise later, I manage to choke out a few words. "Jackie, I-" She jabs a finger in my face and I stumble backward, breathing hard. "No! I don't want to hear it! She should have never gone traveling with you in the first place. Do you realise what it's been like watching my daughter fall into depression? She changed when she left me, and she's never been the same." Tears run down her cheeks and Rose rushes over to hug her, having watched our interaction frozen in one spot. For a moment I stand, pondering what to do next. "Rose, may I talk to your mother in private?"


End file.
